The Senate hearing for theology professor Miguel Diaz, President Barack Obama’s pick to be the new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, takes place Wednesday.

He’ll be one of four ambassador nominees facing questions from the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. The others are Obama’s choices for ambassador to Morocco, Saudi Arab and Tajikistan.

Diaz teaches at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., and at nearby St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. His selection has been seen by some observers as an affirmation of the growing role Hispanic Catholics are playing in the U.S. Catholic Church.